No contest.
Axiom Verge is a fairly awesome videogame (knowing it's been made by just one man helps, a lot). Hollow Knight is a masterpiece far above that. 12-14 hours in Axiom I finished the game and was thankful for it, I had enough. 19 hours in Hollow Knight I'm not only sure it's the better one, I'm sure it's better than, say, Symphony of the Night or any 2d Castlevania I've played, way better than Guacamelee (which was really amazing) and just about better than any 2d metroidvania I've played. Mind you, I've never played any 2d Metroid, but those are old games with retro art and this one is an actual contemporary game with contemporary design and graphics which WORKS as good as old games focused on gameplay.
Also, the music is incredible, as well as the writing, and the setting, atmosphere and variety of scenarios. It also has a crazy amount of content (I may have seen most of the map by now, but of course not all, and my progress is slow but steady and I've still lots to do). The difficulty is just right for now, and even if it got fucky right now, in any department, I've already got practically 20 hours of fucking awesome out of it. Probably will get a lot more than that by the time I'm finished.
It
may not end up being the game of the year for me but it very well couuld be the indie game of recent years. Right there with Ori, Hyper Light and, maybe, Furi. Or maybe Owlboy or some other thing I haven't played yet.
But metroidvanias? I've not played them all, but from those I have, this one's the best.
To the people who played Hollow Knight and Ori. Is it as good as Ori? Ori is one of my favorite games this gen.
Ori is a very special game and does some things better, but so far Hollow Knight is clearly the better
videogame, and I still haven't finished it. Ori might be more touching and better at animation and storytelling, but comparing videogames? Gameplay, systems, design, FUN? Hollow Knight, and I thought Ori was a lot of fun, too.
All that said, someone may find the game too long, or too hard, or too dark, or too sad. Or even too cute!